Changes Coming to Startlike

We’d like to thank our dedicated users who have been with Startlike since the early days and let you know about a major change we have coming down the pipe. We’re consolidating our various channels into one outdoor channel.

A contributing factor is that our users are primarily outdoor enthusiasts, so channels dealing with the outdoors are by far the most popular. But that isn’t the main reason.

When we began buying Facebook ads to promote Startlike, we developed a stand-alone brand for the promotions so that we wouldn’t confuse the Startlike message. That promotional brand is Big Prize Giveaways (BPG).

Over the last few months, BPG has experienced rocket ship like growth. We are already a market leader in the Facebook promotional space, and this is an opportunity we can’t pass up. With well over 2 million Facebook users and no end in sight to our growth, our team is now dedicating a majority of our time to this exciting product.

We think you’ll like the new Startlike Outdoors channel. To check it out, go to www.startlike.com/outdoors and set it as your home page.

And we hope you’ll stop by and give Big Prize a shot. You never know, we could have a Macbook Pro with your name on it! Take a look at www.facebook.com/bigprize

Facebook Connect Issues

Just a quick update for everyone. As of the time of this message (~9am on 7/28/2009) Facebook is "having problems" with their Facebook Connect product. This problem resides inside Facebook, so we are currently at their mercy with some of our features which require an active Facebook session to work (eg. Save and Share, Comment Moderation, and User Authentication) until they get around to fixing it. We've submitted bug reports to Facebook and we are doing everything in our power to get this problem taken care of. Sorry for the inconvenience, we will keep you updated with any information we get.

Thanks for your patience everyone!

Update


Facebook Connect has been working pretty well for the remainder of the day. Facebook fixed the bug this morning, but I wanted to hold off on saying "It is fixed!" until I was sure...seems to be pretty stable now!

Thanks again everyone!

Typo Troubles

Alright everyone, seriously, is it so hard to proof-read your posts before you press that "Post Comment" button on Startlike? It's seriously irritating to see all the typos and misspellings in comments.

Well, we've decided to help you out with your problems. In commemoration of the Saturn V launch 40 years ago, today, we are launching a new feature on Startlike! Now, we can't read your mind or make you magically know how to spell all words in the english dictionary, but we can do the next best thing..

We're going to let you start editing your comments! Alright, we know this has nothing to do with the Apollo launch, or the moon, - but we're advancing technology here, making progress, forging new frontiers! So, maybe it does have something to do with Saturn V after all! No more worries about fat-fingering your keyboard during a comment, or looking like a doofus when you use the wrong "there" or "too!" From here on, you'll be able to edit your comments for five minutes after posting them!

This five minute window was not decided on lightly. We made the conscious decision to limit the time in which a user can edit a comment, and here's why. As comments were (before you were able to edit), you said whatever it was that you said, and that was it. What we mean to say is, there was a certain amount of liability that came with writing a comment. We believe it is in the best interest of the Startlike community that everyone be responsible about what they think should be posted in the comments, and be held accountable for what they do post. This has been our philosophy all along, and is one of the driving reasons behind why we chose to use Facebook Connect as our primary authentication mechanism.

Now that you're able to fix your mistakes, you should be able to avoid any serious run-ins with the grammar police!

Happy Commenting Everyone!

- Jim

PS. Make sure you check out the Startlike Space channel over the next week or so, we will be running awesome images in tribute to the Apollo 11!

All this wheel spinning, and no cheese?

So, last week we launched threaded comments. Great, now everyone can read conversations in a more natural format that makes sense, and doesn't make you spin your mouse-wheel around like a rodent running a marathon. That's all well and good we thought, but then we realized: "So, how does this help us take part in conversations as they unfold?" According to your feedback..we weren't alone in our thoughts. For those of you who don't watch the live comment stream because you have, you know, a job but, still want to take an active part in discussions as they unfold - we have solved your problems!

Enter comment notifications. Starting today, you will notice that after you post a comment (or a reply), whenever someone replies to that comment you will get a nice little notification on the right hand side of the comment box. These notifications will keep you up-to-date on the comment threads that you're interested in, so you don't have to keep your eyes on the live stream just to catch a reply that has your name on it! Now, whenever you visit your favorite Startlike channels, you'll be able to quickly see if anyone has replied to anything you've been reading!

Let me outline a quick scenario. Lets say I post a comment on your favorite Startlike channel. Lets also assume, you were so enamored with what I posted, that you replied to me! That's great! Now, the next time I visit our favorite Startlike channel, I will see a notification saying that you replied to my comment (pictured below) - awesome!



Now, I value what you have to say, and so does everyone else on Startlike! So of course I'm going to reply to you, but I'm sure other people will too! You obviously want to know what people are saying in reply to your comment, so the next time you come to your favorite Startlike channel, you'll see a notification box, too! This will continue as the day progresses - and we'll all be able to talk to each other in a much more efficient manner!

As always, thank you for using Startlike. I hope everyone finds the new notifications useful! I'll see you on the boards!

Jim

New feature: threaded comments

Since I joined Startlike about a month ago, one of my favorite parts of my job has been checking out the various Startlike channels every day to check out the image, get in on the conversation, and, of course, do my developer duty to make sure stuff is still working. :) The comments on the images are always great, and it's fun to watch the reaction to particularly cool images.

One problem with the current commenting system, however, was jumping into the conversation when there were already many comments. The way it was set up, there was no clear way to figure out if someone was responding to the image or directly to another Startliker.

That's why, starting today, threaded view is available, and with it replying to comments. To reply directly to a comment, simply click the reply link directly underneath the comment. The text field will be magically populated with @Name (more on that later) and you're given a text field next to the "Post Comment" button that shows you who you're replying to. If you wish to just make a direct comment on the image, there is that option as well.



There are now two views you can view comments in, and you can switch what view you're in using the two links at the top next to the Comments header. Classic view is the one you're all used to, and is only different because of the reply link. Even if you're in classic view, we encourage you to use that reply link because that will store the information needed to make the threaded view look like it's supposed to.



The threaded view is, in my opinion, really nice for looking at a conversation you've missed a lot of and being able to catch up quickly. Comments on the image are shown most recent first, with comments on comments shown oldest first. This sounds confusing, but it makes it easier to read the comment on the image first, then all the replies in the right order. If you're a Facebook user, you'll recognize it as the same way Facebook handles news feed posts and comments.

A couple other things to note:
  • Threaded view doesn't update automatically (yet). You'll need to refresh the page to see new threaded view posts.

  • Threaded view comments only go one level deep. In other words, you can try replying to a reply, but you'll see that it shows up at the same indentation level as the comment above it. (This is also the same as Facebook.)


As always, we're anxious to hear your feedback and we hope you like the new feature! Either let us know on the boards or via Get Satisfaction how it works for you and if there's something we can do to improve. Thanks!

Post by: Jimmy

First BigPrize Giveaway - WOOT WOOT


As many of you know, we have been giving away prizes under the Startlike brand for a while with limited success on Facebook and Twitter.

So, we decided to try a new name for the giveaways and came up with 'BigPrize'. The idea is to see if the more obviously contest/prize related name would help. So far, so good.

That said, we just did our first contest for a pair of Apple's new iPhone 3GS.....and the winners are.....

Binal Patel and Eric Alderman!!!!

Congrats guys. For those that didn't win this time, please don't sulk too long. We will be doing many more fun giveaways.

For those visiting our blog for the first time, we would love to show you what we're up to at Startlike.

Startlike is an easy-to-use personalized community homepage featuring a daily background photo that matches your interests.

For example, one of our most active channels right now is "The Great Outdoors". It's a homepage for the hiking and camping community with an awesome new photo every day featuring a place to see the wonders of nature.

Visit Startlike.com/Outdoors and make it your homepage today if you like the outdoors!

When you try it, be sure to click the little green "speech bubble" at the bottom of your page and check out the discussion board. There are some awesome people in there.

Not a hiker or camper? We have more channels including Golf, SCUBA Diving, Exotic Escapes and MORE.

You can also learn more at Startlike.com. Be sure to check out the video...it explains a lot.


Thanks again for playing BigPrize. Look for more giveaways very soon!!! To play be sure Become a Fan on Facebook and Follow @BigPrize on Twitter.

Big wheel keep on turnin'....

Last week everyone in the office was starting to look like zombies. Folks were losing skin pigmentation and the lack of sunlight had some on the brink of scurvy. We needed to get out and do something.

So, on Thursday, we decided to head up to the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC (http://www.usnwc.org) for some rafting.

The USNWC is a man made series of channels built to train the US Olympic Whitewater team but it also allows wanna be Olympians (aka Team Startlike) to test their skills in rafts and kayaks.

It's a cool place. The staff was awesome and we had a great time.

Our team was broken up into two boats. Boat 1 was led by Jeff French and boat 2 by Jim Rubenstein (the guides were just there as window dressing ;-).

I think the photos below speak for themselves and obviously, boat 1 benefited from superior leadership (hey, you write the post, you tell the story).


Pre-Rafting Rule #1 - Stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.


The obligatory road sign photo. We must be getting close.


First, we gave the ziplines a try.


They look ready to go!!


Jim, you are in last place. I hope you raft better than you zip.


Be sure to tuck your chin on the dismount.


Team French, Doin' it and doin' it well.


Fearless leadership with stupid faces.


And hand signs....People in the front, throw 'em up!


Team Rubenstein is looking relaxed...maybe too relaxed.


I don't think this is how you want your boat situated in a Class IV.


Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is bad.


Well Jim, after leading your team to complete and total rafting disaster, at least you were man enough to help fish 'em out of the river. Good show.




Post by: Jeff